Delivery mechanism for automatic machines



Aug. 6, 1940. sc u z 2,210,386

DELIVERY MECHANISM FOR AUTOMATIC MACHINES Filed May 25, 1938 2 Sheets-Sheet l 1940- A. scHuLzE 2,210,386

DELIVERY MECHANISM FOR AUTOMATIC MACHINES I I Filed ma 25, 1938 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 2] 1 Fig. 2

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Patented Aug. 6, 1940 riilCgt DELIVERY M CHANISM FOR AUTOMATIC V MACHINES Albert Schulze, Leipzig, Germany, assignor to Metallwerk Terna, -Quedlinburg/ Harz, Germany, a corporation of Germany Application May '25, 1938, Serial No. 209,925 In Germany 1 February 22, 1938 3 Claims.

The invention relates to a device for ejecting articles packed in boxes from automatic machines. It is more particularly suitable-for socalled fully automatic vending machines, in which the delivery of the articles is effected directly by the insertion of one or more coins. 'Such auto matic machines are known per se forexample for the delivery of cigar or cigarette packages. In the existing constructions, however, the delivery of the goods has been to some extent rendered very difficult and'troublesome, because it has been necessary first to adjust the package of articles concerned and then tooperate theejecting device by hand. Other automatic machines have already had the object of delivering the article directly'after the insertion of the coin in the slot respectively allocated to a package of articles. These known constructions, however, possess the disadvantage that the box situated at the bottom in each case was ejected forwardly by the actuating mechanism and hence it has tuating mechanism which scarcely causes any trouble. Also, the manufacture of the deviceaccording to the invention is hereby rendered substantially more economical.

.The accompanying drawings Figures 1 to 5 show a form of construction of theinve'ntion, by way of example. 1

Figure 1 shows the side view of the actuating mechanism.

Figure 2 the front view, and

Figures 3, 4 and 5 show different stages of the delivery of a package. i

In the compartment 2 I are situated the stacked boxes of cigarettes or the like, the lowest of which is situated in the tilting tray Ill, pivoted on the pin 23. Laterally on the compartment, the actuating rod 6 is pivoted to the screw 24, and has a nose 25 and stop pins 22 and l. It is pulled to the left in Figure l by the spring l5. Behind the actuating rod 6 and pivotally supported by the screw 26 on the compartment or in the casing is disposed the latchli provided with an adjustable stop screw 21. This latch 8 is pulled by the tension spring H! or in a similar manner against the pin 28'of the tray l0, thereby'holding the latter in normal locked position. Resting loosely on this pin is also the reset lever 9 pivoted on the j is thrown to the left in Figure 1.

-The coin lever H is thereby p-resseddown into screw 29. On the front of the compartment (Figures '1 and 2) the shaft ii is mounted in the bearing's 3t and and'carries the retainer 56 which is rigidly secured to a lever arm and adjustable thereon to the box height by means of two 'adjusting screws {8 slidably disposed in slot Ni in the retainerarm. Rigidly secured'to one end of the shaft His the lever 6 having a pin. 5 on its lower rearwardly bent end. Spring l3 normally tends to pull this lever against second last box 26 10 of "the stack so as to supportthat box at its front edge. Below the tray it or the individual trays normally supporting the stacker stacks of articles, runs the common shaft l driven by driving means, advantageously an electric motor in the case of fully automatic vending machines. Mounted on this shaft is an eccentrically shaped element 2 for each stack and provided with astop pin 3 engageable with lever' i. The pin 22 of actuating rod 5 is pressed in the inoperative position against the coin lever H pivoted on screw 32 and which serves as a latch for rod ii. The coin lever is .held in latching position by the spring 3 33 and thestop 3t. 35 is the coin cup, l2the chute for the descending'coins. Below the coin lever .H runs the actuating shaft 19 commonto all stacks and carrying the switchlever 18 which operates the switching of the motor. This switch lever is engaged by pin'l of rod ii when the latter,

The delivery mechanism is actuated as follows: 1 Upon the insertion of the appropriate coin, the

coin after the usual checking falls from the coin tester through the chute E2 on to the cup the dash-adot position, the'pin 22 being thereby released. The actuating lever his then drawn' into the dashed line position under the influence of the spring 15, thus performing two functions: firstly it strikes against the adjusting screw 21 0 and hence removes latch 8 from pin- 28, so that r the tray Ill tilts, and secondly by means of pin 1, it simultaneously throws into the dash-dot positionthe switch lever. I8 which starts the driving motor for example by means of a mercury switch (not shown). The lowermost box 'of the stack, lying up to this time freely in the tray In, slides out by its own weight and falls into the article delivery chute (not shown). Thereupon, by means of the eccentric 2 on the shaft i, turnlifted again and is returned to the-starting position. At'the'same time thelever 9 on tray I0 ing in thedirection of the arrow, the tray is had ridden freely over the nose of the actuating lever B, is pressed against the lower side of the nose 25 during the upward movement of the tray and thereby moves lever 6 to the right against the latters spring tension. When lever 9 has arrived above nose 25 simultaneously with the levelling of the tray, the actuating lever 6 is pulled to the left by its spring Hi until arrested at its pin 22 by the projection of the coin lever H as shown in Figure 1. In addition, upon the levelling of the tray, the pin 23 again is engaged by latch 8 which for this purpose is bevelled on the lower side and tray D is again locked in nor-. mal position shown in Figure 1. Upon further rotation of the eccentric 2, the retainer i6 is moved to the right in Figures 1 and 3 when the lever 4 on shaft 11 is actuated by the pin 3.

After moving some distance, this lever is released again, so that the lever and retainer Hi can spring back due to the tension of spring l3. This retainer hasthe form shown in Figures 35. It has the function, in cooperation with the construction, according to the invention, of the rear ledge of flap IQ, of only releasing one box from the stack for delivery in each case. This is achieved as follows:

Before the delivery mechanism is set in operation, the lowest box of the stack has the position shown in Figure 4. Upon the tilting of tray IE1, represented in Figure 5, the rear ledge of the tray, which has a nose-shaped cross section and which for thispurpose must be of somewhat smaller height than the height of the particular box, engages below the rear edge of the next operation, an actuating lever and means conbox of the stack. On the front of the compartment, this next box as mentioned before is held by the projection of the retainer l6. Upon levelling-the tray, its nose-shaped ledge returns to its initial position, so that this next box can fall into the tray as shown in Figure 3. The front edge of this box is at the same time released by the moving of the lever A and retainer E6 to the right in consequence of the aforedescribed action of pin 3 during the rotation of the eccentric plateas also shown in Figure 3. If now retainer 16 springs back into the normal position (Figure 4) the box which has landed on tray it is pushed to the left against the rear ledge of the tray and thus into a position (Figure 4) for reliable delivery on the insertion of the next coin.

The construction of the actuating mechanism is not limited to the construction of the individual actuating elements given in Figures 1 to 5. Thus, for example, the individual members, according to the conditions of space, may be arranged further back or even at some other place behind or in front of the stack compartment, and also in general the configuration may be varied as desired while retaining their function according to the invention. The device is intended in the first place for fully automatic vending machines, but of course a hand crank may be provided instead of a motor, or for example, instead of the actuating mechanism being operated directly by the coin, it may be operated by a hand-operated button released by the conventional coin control.

I claim:

1. In a vending machine or the like, including a magazine for a stack of articles to be delivered, a delivery mechanism comprising a tray disposed below said magazine and adapted to contain the article of the stack next to be delivered, a pivotal support for said tray permitting said tray to freely tilt to deliver said article by gravity, means for normally locking said tray in supported position, means for initiating the vending operation, means controlled by said initiating means for unlocking said tray at the initiation of the vending operation, a lifting member for returning said tray into locked position, means controlled by said initiating means for actuating said lifting member during the Vending operation and after the article has been delivered, a retainer disposed adjacent to the discharge end of said magazine and below the front edge of the article second next in delivery to support said article and the stack at said edge during the tilting of said tray, and means actuated by said lifting member for operating said retainer to release said second next article to drop onto said tray on the latters return into locked position, said tray having an upwardly extending ledge rearwardly of the trays pivotal support and normally disposed rearwardly of and below said second article and adapted to swing forwardly into position below the rear edge of said second article when the tray is tilted and the article on the tray is being delivered, for Supporting the rear edge of said second article and the stack during the delivery operation of the tray.

2. In a vending machine or the like, including a magazine for a stack of articles to be delivered,

a delivery mechanism, comprising a tray disposed below said magazine and adapted to contain the article of the stack next to be delivered,

a pivotal support for said tray permitting said tray to freely tilt to deliver said article by gravity, means for normally locking said tray in supported position, means for initiating the vending trolled by said initiating means for actuating said lever at the initiation of the vending operation, said lever engaging and unlocking said traylocking means, a resetting element pivotally attached to said tray and a cam on said actuating lever engageably disposed with respect to said resetting element for resetting the actuating lever to normal position when thetray is returned into locked position, a lifting member for returning said tray into locked position, means controlled by said. initiating means for actuating said lifting member during the vending operation and after the article has been delivered, a retainer disposed adjacent to the discharge end of said magazine and below the front edge of the article second next in delivery to support said article and the stack at said edge during the tilting of said tray, and means actuated by said lifting member for operating said retainer to release said second next article to drop onto said tray on the latters return into locked position, said tray having an upwardly extending ledge of nose-shaped cross sectionrearwardly of the trays pivotal support and normally disposed rearwardly of and below said second article and second article and the stack during the delivery ported position, means for initiating the vending operation, means controlled by said initiating means for unlocking said tray at the initiation of the vending operation, a lifting member for returning said tray into locked position, means controlled by said initiating means for actuating said lifting member during the vending operation and after the article has been delivered, a retainer disposed adjacent to the delivery end of said magazine and below the front edge of the article second next in delivery to support said article and the stack at one edge during the tilting of said tray, means actuated by said lifting member for operating said retainer to release said second next article to drop onto said tray on the latters return into locked position,

said tray having an upwardly extending ledge rearwardly of the trays pivotal support and normally disposed rearwardly of and below said second article and'adapted to swing forwardly into position below the rear edge of said second article when the tray is tilted and the article on the tray is delivered, for supporting the rear edge of said second article and the stack during the delivery operation of the tray, and a spring for returning said retainer to normal position and for pushing the article dropped onto the locked tray against the rear tray ledge.

ALBERT SCHULZE. 

